This Food-Conscious City Embraces a Variety of Methods for Fermentation. Between the yogurt commercials promoting a flat belly to the numerous health claims made by physicians and holistic practitioners, you have no doubt heard about probiotics—or the “good” bacteria—found in fermented foods. Some research says that these good bacteria, particularly those in our gut, may […]

West Virginia offers up a bounty of such intimacy. There’s the sweet beauty of the Appalachian Mountains, a quiet resilience to its people, and a chance to visit the past while watching its residents move surely to the future.

I learn so much on my travels. In Alexandria, Virginia, I was fortunate to get a lesson in antique barware and how you can tell what period a piece is from based on what was going on in the world at the time. Here, Victoria Vergason, owner of The Hour, shares some insights.

A friend on Facebook is getting ready to take a trip via Amtrak from Kansas City to Albuquerque. Never having ridden the train, she naturally had many questions. It reminded me that after three years taking several train trips per year, I had forgotten how many tips I had to learn by trial and error […]

Sometimes the mountains call to you. When they do, one way to experience their majesty is a train ride from Denver to Grand Junction, stopping in Winter Park and Glenwood Springs on the way. Departing Denver on Amtrak’s California Zephyr, you’ll slowly climb the Rocky Mountains to Winter Park. Then, from Winter Park to Glenwood […]

Spring is the perfect opportunity to get out and explore Kansas City. Thanks to the KC Streetcar, you can spend a Saturday morning with a trolley ride from Union Station to the City Market, enjoy brunch at The Farmhouse, a farm-to-table restaurant, walk and shop the City Market, then return to Union Station for a […]

I stepped off the train into a blizzard. As I stood there trying to figure out where to go, I heard the conductor’s cry of All Aboard!, and knew I would soon be left to fend for myself. Yet fear never entered my consciousness. Instead, fully immersed in the moment and its requirements, I took the next step.

It was a vibrant spring morning as Eliza, the owner of Best Kept Secret B&B in Glenwood Springs, CO, brought out containers filled with bamboo canes. Burrowed inside these canes were Mason bees, ready to be released from their cocoons. Kept in the refrigerator all winter to protect them from predators, and so the bees wouldn’t accidentally get […]

A light rain started as I climbed through the window to the balcony of my room at the Hotel Maison de Ville in New Orleans. I felt like a teenager sneaking out after dark for a secret tryst. The air was thick with humidity and the rain broke some of the day’s heat, if only briefly. There was an overhang on the balcony, so I sat outside, feet propped on a table, drinking a café au lait and watching the revelers just one block over on Bourbon Street.

Life on the train is sleepy; it’s a casual pace that allows for reflection and connection to others. This leisurely pace provides a luxury I rarely enjoy–my biggest choice being whether I lay curled in my seat, gazing out the window, or go to the observation car and meet other travelers. I enjoy both options, but […]

“I think I’m going to throw up.” It was 10 o’clock at night and we had just arrived at the train station. The nerves and excitement that got me through the days of planning and packing for this first journey of the USA by rail had turned to dread. My friend pulled into the circle […]

Santa Fe is renowned as a food-lovers heaven, with New Mexican cuisine leading as Archangel. The food is spicy, vibrant, flavorful and oh-so-delicious. The quality, whether New Mexican or standard American fare, is outstanding. Could it be the altitude? On my first visit in January, I commented to a friend that the salads tasted alive […]

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Jill, waiting for a train in Lamy, New Mexico.

Travel writer and publisher of Evolving Magazine, Jill Dutton caught the train travel bug when she spent three months in Europe with a Eurail pass. Now, she enjoys traveling–and writing about–the U.S. and Canada by train (and plane).

Her writing has appeared in Business Jet Traveler, Old Liquors Magazine, Evolving Magazine, Bass Angler Magazine, and many others. As the U.S. train expert, she created a travel video for The Voyage Report. Unanchor.com published her travel guide, “The Best of Kansas City: 3-Day Itinerary.” Jill is currently writing the first of 12 train travel guides: “Ride the Southwest Chief: 5-Day Itinerary.”